It should be obvious I didn’t do the updates I said. The reason is because I have quit the game. I mean scorched earth, deleted the app off my iPad quit.

I’m done.

I started playing MKX Mobile because I liked the Injustice model. However, what I liked about Injustice was that it had no premium currency. You could earn credits or buy them outright. I thought it was a nice balance between people who have time but no money and people who have money but no time. It was player friendly and I know Injustice made money off that model. I even spent money on it, not that I needed to but to show them some support.

MKX players have decried the use of premium currency from day one and I thought it was ok because it wasn’t overly obnoxious. The last update fixed that.

Now available, a Netherrealm Pack for 3 characters, 2 of which cannot be purchased any other way for 850 souls. That’s $50 in real world money.

The Liu Kang challenge gives you a character that you can only upgrade with 345 souls. You can’t pull him in the Kombat Pack.

If you grind hard and do the daily bonuses you can earn a Kombat Pack in 3 weeks. Sooner if you play and do well in Faction Wars. That’s for something that costs 150 souls.

It’s a slap in the face and I’m done with this game. If you’re going to be just like the other games I despise for their cynical tactics, why should I support or promote you. Holding your hand out for money and giving me very little in value is insulting. I am done.

This is NOT a call for everyone to quit, boycott, or whatever. If you’re still enjoying the game or choose to spend money, more power to you.

For those that haven’t visited, the Character Spotlights page has been completely updated and all the character portraits have been put into the new format. I will resume character spotlights this week and am committing to at least 2 right now. Not sure what my 3rd Mortal Kombat day will be.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and enjoyed the holiday if you were out celebrating.

Note: While this won’t always be the case, yet again I do not have a picture of the actual weapon. However, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a picture of this out of production rifle that is actually just like the one I fired? The pickings were slim. Apologies for the image quality.

I’m not much of a hunter and this isn’t a hunting rifle, so why am I hunting coyotes with this thing?

The Model 15Y is a “youth model” bolt action .22 rifle that is a single-shot. They aren’t fancy and can feel rather small in an adult’s hands. The particular rifle I was using actually belonged to my brother-in-law, and was my nephew’s first rifle.

My first use of this was for killing coyotes caught in traps. If that seems cruel, well, you’ve never seen a coyote up close. However, I’m not a big fan of animal suffering no matter how nasty they are, so all shots are done as close to the middle of the forehead as possible. I own better rifles than this, but I have to give it credit as a starter rifle. Like most bolt-action .22’s, it’s a tack driver.

I don’t believe you can still buy this model new though there are plenty of other youth rifles available for your smaller shooters. I understand the purpose of a single-shot for teaching a new shooter, but for hunting it seems unnecessary. Then again, I’m sure my bro-in-law was just trying to conserve ammunition since .22 LR is still hard to come by.

The Road Warrior is one of my favorite movies and even watching it recently made me see that it’s not just nostalgia. For a movie well over 30 years old it has held up remarkably well. The latest movie, Mad Max: Fury Road, is one of the few movies I’ve made the effort of catching while it was in the theater. So how did they rate with me?

#4 Mad Max: Beyond the ThunderdomeOverall Assessment: Entertaining
After the Road Warrior this was a somewhat disappointing follow-up that had a silly and overly long subplot involving a bunch of kids. Trying to do Lord of the Flies in the Apocalypse isn’t really what I want in a Mad Max movie. If it weren’t for that gap in the movie, I think this would have been better. The problem is they kept teasing a different movie than what this turned out to be. Max was ridiculously heavily armed in the beginning and looked ready to kick all kinds of butt. Instead he spends most of the movie disarmed and involved with intrigue that doesn’t suit his character. Looking back on it I think the movie maybe doesn’t get enough credit, but it was too radical a departure from the Road Warrior.
Favorite Moment: Max disarming.
Worst Moment: Those dang kids!

#3 Mad MaxOverall Assessment: Entertaining
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t in love with Mad Max. The movie is definitely a product of its time and doesn’t hold up well compared to more recent movies. It’s a good freshman effort for George Miller and deserved a follow-up, but it’s clearly his entry level into bigger things. I do think it deserves to be held up as a classic in its own right, but for sheer enjoyment it’s not high on my list. While the sequels don’t always hold to a strict continuity, this is the movie that sets up the mythos that the rest follow.
Favorite Moment: Max taking the Pursuit Special out for the first time.
Worst Moment: I know it’s considered a classic, but the eye-pop was over-the-top.

#2 Mad Max: Fury RoadOverall Assessment: This is Actually a Pretty Good Movie!
From the trailers I thought this had a shot at dethroning The Road Warrior as my favorite of the series. It didn’t quite get there, but it’s still an awesome movie in its own regard. The much larger budget and more advanced technology gives it an edge, but the stakes are oddly not as high as they’ve been before.

I have to give the movie big props to keeping to the classic Mad Max character even with a new actor. He doesn’t really want to be involved but gets pulled into a conflict anyway and ends up saving the day. There is just a ton of over-the-top craziness in this movie and it all works without getting too bogged down with ridiculous details or distracting CGI.
Favorite Moment: The final chase with Max jumping from vehicle to vehicle
Worst Moment: “Former captive decides they were better off imprisoned” cliché!

#1 Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorOverall Assessment: This is Actually a Pretty Good Movie!
I love this movie because when they aren’t fighting, chasing, or blowing things up, then it is moments of sheer desperation. The movie just has this ongoing tension so there is very little time to relax. I prefer a movie that keeps me engaged and never lets me get bored, and this does it well without beating me over the head. Not only do I consider this the best movie of the series, but it’s the movie by which I measure all apocalyptic films.
Favorite Moment: The final reveal. Once you see it, it is obvious, but they still did a good job of keeping it from the audience.
Worst Moment: Man, they showed just enough of that rape to be really uncomfortable. Yuck.

Definitions –
This is Actually a Pretty Good Movie!
Movie is actually well done and well acted. It’s no Oscar winner but still has cinematic merit and was enjoyable.

Guilty Pleasure
I define a guilty pleasure as a movie that I acknowledge is not a good movie but I enjoyed it anyway. These are some of my favorite movies though they will never top films that are both well done and entertaining.

Entertaining
Not a great film and probably what most people define as a “popcorn flick”. I might enjoy it enough to watch it more than once but it is not going to be considered great cinema by anyone.

Passable
Probably entertaining but not something I’ll watch again. Usually a movie I watched to say that I have seen it or part of a film series that I want to complete.

Barely Watchable
I didn’t fall asleep but probably left disappointed. The film had some entertainment value but was either forgettable or had some many inconsistencies that I find myself questioning its internal logic for days after seeing it.

Considering I have done just about everything from bussing tables to road construction, I am very happy to have worked my way into a good paying job that I honestly don’t have to work that hard at. I have to know a lot of things and can be under a lot of pressure, but for a guy who used to sling asphalt it’s difficult for me to call anything I do today “hard work”.

Take it from me, do these things if you can in your career –

Work your way into a job where you don’t have to work weekends and get normal holidays off.

Get into a position where you basically make your own schedule.

Become the senior most person in your location’s department.

Never, ever, look down on the people who are doing the jobs you used to have to do.

If you can avoid it, stay away from retail. Fast food, restaurants, construction, name just about anything you can. I’ve never had any job that was near as soul sucking and cynical as working in retail. Even working at the corporate level was kind of off-putting.

My money is on Erron Black. Why? Because he’s confirmed to already exist in the code somewhere. Granted, all I know is from a 3rd party and it’s just a name that pops up looking through game files. It doesn’t mean everything is there for the character, but it’s the only name we don’t have currently on the roster.

Prior to that, the only other name in the files was Kung Lao, except he’s been released and in two different forms. Well, ignoring the fact they seem to have forgotten to actually include either version in the Kombat Pack.

The real question is, will they keep rotating challenges one after the other like Injustice and WWE Immortals or are there still enough problems that players will be on a forced break until another update?

Even then, IF Erron Black is coded already that still leaves just him and no one else available for challenges. Which means at best we’ll get his challenge and then Netherrealm will have to do another update for us to get further challenges. This is not unusual for the other games I mentioned, but update releases for MKX have been, well, inconsistent to say the least.

This is all pure speculation at this point. I am still eager to see who is next and despite how simple the last challenge was I will never pass up adding another character to my collection.